Before the arrival of mains water, springs and their
attendant wells were the only source of supply. Most of
these were on private property and many deeds contain
elaborate details of the rights of neighbours to cross
the land and draw water.

Where there was a concentration of houses, there were
public wells and taps, the responsiblity for whose
maintenance fell to the Parish Council. The task was
just as endless as was caring for the footpaths. Taps
were out with extraordinary frequency, pipes blocked
up, the area around the well or tap became muddy and
paving had to be laid or replaced.

There were also occasional examples of what we should
nowadays call vandalism. In February 1914 Councillor
Roskruge reported an obstruction in the Rosenithon Well
which was causing great inconvenience to women going
there for water. Councillor Rogers agreed to clear it
immediately but in March had to report that, despite
some efforts, he had failed. There was considerable
discussion of the "dastardly act" and the
matter was passed to Councillors Retallack and Nicholls
who promised to deal with it shortly. At the April
meeting the latter reported that it had been cleared;
the obstruction had been in the overflow pipe and
consisted of a 2' 6" (two feet six inches)
length of "brush hill" (??) the same size as
the pipe. Councillor Nicholls produced the brush at the
meeting.

The Council still maintains Tregarne and Traboe wells.

St. Keverne Reservoir
As might be expected, the two major settlements, i.e.
St. Keverne and Coverack, gave rise to most problems.
It helps to understand the position in St. Keverne if
we have some idea what the Reservoir was, particularly
as it has long since disappeared and in any case was
never what we would normally think of as a reservoir.
It stood on the corner of St. Keverne Square where the
bus shelter is now; it was about 10 feet square, 8 feet
deep and covered in slate. The overflow went to a horse
trough from which cattle used to drink.

In March 1914 at the Annual Meeting held in public the
surroundings of the Reservoir were said to be very
dirty owing to the excrement left by cattle; this was a
great eyesore to the immediate neighbours and to
visitors coming into the village so much so that the
local press had now "seriously taken the matter
up". One suggestion was that the area should be
railed off, another that the trough should be removed.
Members of the public pointed out that the loss of the
trough would be keenly felt by a large number of
residents. It was resolved that the Parish Council were
quite capable of dealing with the question and it was
left in their hands.

In June the Council considered a petition about the
filth from three parishioners, apparently offering to
do the cleaning. It was decided that they should be
required to carry out their self-imposed task three
times a week or the Council would remove the trough. In
July the surroudings were reported to be much cleaner.

Apart from routine matters, the next mention is in
August 1917 when the dilapidated and dirty condition of
the surrounding shrubbery is mentioned and it is
reported that a "party" still drove a Steam
Tractor through the village and each week put its hose
in the water to fill its tank, contrary to the
Council's notice.

Sometime before the next relevant minute in August 1926
railings were erected. It was then reported that water
was being taken as the Reservoir lock had disappeared.
In October, in spite of a new lock having been bought,
water continued to disappear. The Council resolved to
leave the matter in abeyance and try to find out who
the culprits were. As far as can be discovered from the
minutes, the problem was not so much solved as bypassed
for two months later we find that the District Council
intended to erect a storage tank in place of the
reservoir. The Council resented this strongly on the
grounds that it was an uncalled for waste of
ratepayers's money.

Despite their protests, by August 1932 the tank appears
to have been in place for some time as a Mr. W. Rogers
was employed to clean the walls. Problems did not by
any means cease, however. People left rubbish, manure
returned, the owners of the cows that drank at the
Reservoir being asked to clean it up, and there were
occasional leaks. In October 1940 it was reported to be
empty partly for this reason and partly because they
had had a very dry spell of weather (it was the idyllic
summer of the Battle of Britain).

Mains Water to St. Keverne
In February 1950 Councillor Brown informed the Council
that representatives of the Rural District Council had
been to Whitehall and the Ministry of Health had given
their approval of a scheme that would take three years.
Supply was to be taken from"Me-Hall-Mill" to
Roskruge Beacon and then piped to points to be decided
on. In March it was reported that surveying was being
carried out as quickly as possible.

In June of the same year the minutes mention that a
boring had been carried out at the new estate
(Penmennor) which would produce 300 gallons of water
per hour, a fact which seems to have relieved the minds
of councillors whose faith in the immediacy of the
comprehensive scheme seems not to have been unlimited.
In October their scepticism was justified as we then
find that the RDC had resolved to sink a borehole near
the reservoir. By January 1951 it appears that the RDC
was constantly reviewing the situation and it looked as
though the scheme would not be undertaken for some
years.

In December 1954 the RDC wrote to say that they had
cleaned the pipes to Porthoustock, though they were not
inclined to replace them in view of the
"impending" introduction of the new water
scheme. In September 1957 the Council wrote a further
letter of protest about the unsatisfactory state of
supply to the village. People drew water from the
Reservoir until 1958 when the mains at last arrived in
the village, the supply being pumped from Roskruge
Reservoir (later from Stithians) direct to both
Porthallow and St. Keverne; from the latter it
continued to Porthoustock. Thereafter the Council's
responsibility was limited to complaining periodically
first to the water company, then the water board and
finally, at the time of printing, to a private water
company again.

Coverack's Water Supply
Evidently Coverack's supply was particularly
deficient and in December 1921 the PC first raised the
matter; after somewhat acrimonious discussion, the
proposition was put: "That this Annual Meeting of
the Electors of St. Keverne recognises that the present
water supply of Coverack is totally inadequate, and
that it approves of an additional supply being
provided".

It was lost by a large majority.

However, the District Council had its eyes on the
situation and in August 1922 they wrote to the PC
outlining a scheme. Councillor Collins moved that it
was expensive and costly and should be dropped at once:
passed by 6 votes to 5. The Sanitary and Water
Committee were deputed to see if the present supply
could not be improved at the cost of a few pounds. Some
detail of how this might be achieved emerges at the
next meeting where it is suggested that a pipe be laid
from the tap at Sincock's (see below) to the corner
of the old public house (where the public phone kiosk
now is). In December 1923 the DC wrote to the PC
telling them an Inspector from the Ministry of Health
would hold an inquiry in connection with the DC's
plan to borrow £250 for an additional water
supply to Coverack. Councillor Rogers returned to the
plan for a pipe mentioned above with the addition of a
1500 gallon tank opposite Sincock's (this is the
house at the front of whose garden the tap was and is.
Mr. Sincock was, incidentally, the first headmaster of
Coverack School).

In January 1923 the meeting resolved to draw the
attention of the District Council to the fact that cars
were being washed on the high road in front of the new
garage in Coverack. It is not clear if the offence was
misuse of the highway or profligate use of a limited
water supply.

The matter was left in abeyance for almost four years;
it does not reappear until March 1927 at the Annual
Meeting with members of the public present and free to
speak. District Councillors were also there. Is it a
sign of the less than brotherly relations between the
two councils, that they had to wait until the last item
on a long agenda? It is certainly unclear why they were
there for when they were asked to outline the new
£1,700 scheme for Coverack, they gave no answer.
Mr. R.G. Harvey, a parishioner, pointed out that they
had not supported the £250 scheme and they did
not support the new one. He must have spoken rather
more strongly than appears as one of the District
Councillors told him that he did his cause more harm
than good by being impertinent.

In January 1928 the PC again affirmed its opposition to
such an expensive scheme. At the Annual Meeting in
March there was further discussion involving
contradictions and considerable heat (Mr. Harvey again
intervened). It emerged that the DC's scheme would
now cost £3,000.

In August they resolved to write to the DC opposing the
present scheme but, since they recognised the urgent
need for water in Coverack, supporting a smaller one.

And that is the last time the minutes mention the new
Coverack water supply. Frustration again! The sequel is
supplied from other sources.

In 1930 the District Council started work on its new
scheme, having by then received a grant from central
government. It appears to have cost considerably more
than £3,000 and was contracted out to Dingles of
Redruth. They piped the three main springs in the lower
part of the village into a large tank behind the old
mill. From there it was pumped up into a reservoir
built in the field opposite Mr. Ben Roskilly's
farm. The whole village was dug up and pipes were laid
into all the houses.

Unfortunately this was not the end of water supply
problems for Coverack. In January 1950 the Royal
Cornwall Infirmary sent a report to the District
Council which was read out at the Parish Council
meeting. They had evidently analysed water samples and
they reported that that from Coverack showed a large
number of "coliform organisms of excretal origin
and is unsuitable fo drinking purposes. The treatment
appears to be most inadequate". Nobody familiar
with the position would have been surprised. One of the
wells was unfenced and a heifer once drowned in it; it
was henceforth known as the "Oxo Well".

An intermediate solution was the pumping in about 1960
of the water fror Roskruge, the reservoir supplying St.
Keverne. Later the whole area was supplied direct from
Stithians.